During man and womankind’s time on this planet, we have had the Agricultural Revolution, then the Industrial Revolution and now the Digital Revolution.  In fact, to be strictly accurate, we have not had the DigitalRevolution; we are in fact starting it!

The Agricultural and Industrial Revolutions dramatically affected forever the way we lived and what we expected from life.   There is no going back on a revolution. We cannot ‘not know’what we have learned. The Digital Revolution is in its infancy and change has a habit of creeping up on us.

Think back 10 years ago to a time with few mobile phones and no widespread use of emails.  People didn’t purchase goods or holidays on the Internet.  10 years is not a long time, but compare this to today where in our western commercialised world, nearly everyone has a mobile phone, including pensioners and young children and virtually everyone freely communicates with friends and in business by email wherever they are in the world, and Internet buying is now commonplace.  This of course is only the beginning and many things that were once only in the minds of science fiction writers, over the next 20 years will become a living reality.

What does this mean for us in our working lives?

When technology first started to rear it’s head, there were fears that computers would replace people.  One could argue that to some extent this is true but only true in the narrowest of interpretations.  In reality, computers have replaced mundane tasks formerly performed by people and this itself has then created opportunities for new roles for us.  It seems this trend is only going one way and therefore what does his mean for us in business and how can we respond?

Firstly, a need to respect and acknowledge the inevitability of this change and not fight it.  Secondly, to understand that change usually evolves and develops.  Change is rarely instant, it usually involves transition.  However, ignore these trends and not only will change creep up on you, you will find yourself left behind.  The answer of course is to prudently plan for change by maximising current opportunities and planning for change in a synergistic way.

The One Constant

I believe amongst all this change and potential future change, one constant remains… people do business with people!

This will always be the case because as human beings, we crave human contact.  We require human interaction to enjoy our success and to live and experience life.  These are all completely natural drivers for most of us.  People do business with people, whether as customers, suppliers, colleagues, and consumers or just as designers of machines or computers!

Whatever the technological developments, at the core of all business dealings is human interaction.  Then how are these technological changes likely to affect this?  I believe the answers will evolve in the following ways:

• Technology will increasingly offer us time to do other things rather than just processing
• People will be drawn more and more to the value of human interaction and recognise its realvalue in business
• In the business world, the performance value of what is called Emotional Intelligence will become increasingly acknowledged

Emotional Intelligence and What Motivates People to Perform

On the reasonable assumption that people do business with people and that people are not machines, understanding the factors that motivate us all are key to business success.  This, of course, is true for any area of life.  As a leader of a business, one could be compared to a captain of a ship going on an exciting journey to discover exotic new fruits to bring back home as a rich reward for your skill, vision and courage.

To get to the land of exotic fruits and back home safely, you need to know where you are going and how you are going to get there.  You also need to constantly know where you are at any time on this journey.  Just as importantly, you need the support of your crew and their belief in your abilities to take them there and back safely and with everyone collecting their just rewards from a successful journey.

All teams in business need common goals that are set by the management team but also are fully bought into by those working within the business.  Each team then requires its own goals to help achieve these group goals. Within each team, individuals will have their own personal goals.  The level of buy - in and synergy between each of these three levels of goals will to a great extent, dictate the effectiveness and speed of development of the business and achievement of these goals.

Where people are able to consistently:

• Agree to a set of common goals
• Clearly know their place and role in achieving these goals
• Have appropriately balanced authority and responsibility
• Feel valued and part of a worthwhile process

Very often significant results follow.  In these circumstances improvements in effectiveness can be quite amazing, if somewhat difficult to measure.

What Changes will be Necessary with this New Approach?

The old business way of ‘Command and Control’ and male domination may still have plenty of legs left in it.  However, I believe an approach that better understands and delivers what motivates people and where these people have real choice, will work best.  The single factor that has probably most put the ‘Command and Control’ approach under threat is that people have real choice.

In previous generations this choice was considerably less than today.  These choices have been developed on the back of the Digital Revolution and increasing Western Society prosperity where getting people to do something is no longer likely to work.   A number of new approaches are likely to become increasingly adopted:

• Leaders will have to understand what it is that inspires and motivates people in their team
• Businesses need to connect with their customer’s and team’s wants not just needs
• Softer skills like listening and communication will become of increasing value and eminence
• Women are likely to have an increasing influence over the business world,primarily due to their natural abilities with soft skills

In summary, I believe business is going to become more focused on what people, in business, internal and external, want and feel as well as what they need and think.  Successful businesses will consistently match these wants and needs with their own products or services.  Business will be less about problem solving and more about understanding wants and needs and matching these with what a business provides.

Those that listen, understand, care and then act are likely to succeed.  Those that close up don’t want to understand, co-erce and control are much less likely to have long-term sustainable success than was the case in the past.

It certainly will be a new way of doing business!

To find out ways of implementing these new ways of doing business in your practice contact Micheal O'Neill on 01 4110000 or moneill@omnipro.ie and discover how you can generate new sources of revenue in your practice.